THE ANNIE FORD BAND

2014 – Self
ReleasedIf ever an album
could be said to be timeless it is this tremendous debut by the Annie Ford
Band. Whilst the music is rooted in the dark Appalachian tales of old there is a
large amount of diversity to this extraordinary album. Annie, thanks to her
highly skilled fiddle playing has been a much sought after side person for at
least a decade, with this album being the result of a diverse musical education
and a band that many singers would kill to be supported by. The talented lineup
consists of Annie on lead vocals and fiddle, as well as song writing, Matt Mange
is on drums, song writing and vocals, Olie Elshleman, pedal steel guitar, Ivan
Molton, bass, Tim Sargent on guitar and banjo with Robert Mitchell on piano.Annie’s vocals on occasions remind me of artists such as Eilen
jewell and Laura Cantrell, but really she is completely her own stylist and
those lovely feminine vocals have a really unique appealing edge. This is the
bands second recording, the first being an excellent five song e.p titled
‘Dirty hearts and broken dishes’ that is easy (as well as worthwhile) to track
down on the www. There is certainly nothing twee about this country music, in
fact although stylistically different she has a similar edginess to that
possessed by Nanci Griffith in her early days. Despite the fact that this
tremendous music can be put in no other pigeon hole than country music Annie
brings a slightly different perspective to the genre and mixes up several other
styles, giving her a pretty much unique slot. The sound is never too dense,
always having a nice sparse feel that perfectly suits these excellent, mainly rural
tales. Thematically the
album ranges from deep dark country to a rhythm and blues feel, albeit with a
little rock and roll thrown in, and yet it is always easy to sense her country
roots irrespective of the direction a song takes. All of these various generic
strains are played and sung with not just a huge amount of skill but also with
total commitment and believability bringing a virtually perfect diversity to
this excellent recording.In
my notes I highlighted ten of the eleven songs as being ones to mention in this
review, such is the strength of the music. Fairly obviously that would be
ridiculous so ultimately I had to pick ‘highlights’ at random with the
following being those selections! Album opener Two Sides, qualitatively, if not necessarily generically, pretty
much sets the scene for what is to follow. It has a lovely acoustic guitar and
fiddle intro before Annie’s beautiful vocal comes in, eventually joined by the
atmospheric steel guitar. There is a lovely appealing folksy edginess to her
vocal and there are some excellent harmonies added to that terrific country
instrumentation on a lovely floaty uplifting if reflective story. Buick 66 is a real beauty with lovely
harmonies and an unusual instrumentation giving the mid tempo song an eerie
otherworldly atmosphere, reminiscent of the songs on Porter Wagoner’s definitive
dark compilation ‘The Rubber room,’ as well as an all round feel of something
that Rachel Brooke would appreciate! All
Hours is another beauty with Annie’s gorgeous edgy vocal seemingly always containing
a backwoods flavor that is difficult to define in any other way. It is a beautiful
dramatic ballad with weeping steel guitar and excellent male harmonies, plus a
haunting fiddle solo on an epic song that has a dark ethereal beauty and clocks
in at an all too brief six and a half minutes. Frankie exhibits the diversity in this tremendous album, being a speedy
up tempo, upbeat, barrel house, rolling version of the classic ‘Frankie &
Johnny’ updated for the 21st century and with a lovely lightness of
touch! There is some terrific fiddle playing on Lovesick, a song that at times feels a little like a 1950s uptempo
rock and roll song but with a country strand running through it, on a tale that
is defined by the title, with Annie’s vocal a little reminiscent of Eilen
Jewell. Album closer Gotta Kill A Rooster
signals more diversity on an unusual song that has a ‘hillbilly jazz’ feel.
The slashing guitar and heavy bass propel a song that gradually picks up speed
and strangely, not only contains humour but also a slightly ‘threatening’
atmosphere. The discordant fiddle and gradual overwhelming ‘Gypsy violin’ creates
a spookiness that brings this tremendous album to a dark conclusion. Picking
those songs at random meant one of my real top favourites doesn’t even get a
mention but it matters not on this album of great songs! This
is most definitely a powerful debut album that really should signal the start
of a successful career and the coming of a vocalist and band whose music contains
elements of several genres (and indeed artists) but really are so different
that they are in a pretty much unique field of their own. Despite this being to
all intents and purposes a ‘country’ album, in many ways it makes generic
definitions redundant. Just label it as a great album!http://anniefordband.bandcamp.com/